“AJ,” Terrell clarified as if I didn’t know who he meant.
“I figured as much, but why are you taking the time out of your night to tell me that?” I asked.
It sounded like he was smiling. “Because…I called to check on him because I hadn’t heard from him since the night of the wedding, and him and ol’ girl didn’t show up for breakfast Sunday, so…”
“Terrell!” Maisha and I yelled in unison when his answer dragged on.
“Dang! If you’d let me finish, I was getting to my point. I was just thinking that you should give him a call to set something up.”
Here he goes with this again. “Terrell, I told you I am not about to start calling that man. He has a life. I have a life. There’s no point”
“Not even to give him a tour of the city?” He asked.
Wait…what? “He’s visiting here?”
“Nope! Next guess?” Terrell answered, sounding full of himself.
My brain short circuited.
“Oh my gosh!” Maisha interjected when she became annoyed by Terrell’s antics as usual. “He’s moving there, Sam.”
Now I was sweating, had to toss my sheet back and everything. “What? When?”
“This weeeeekennnnnd,” Terrell sang into the receiver.
But that didn’t make sense!
“I – I don’t…” My sentences slipped away and my thoughts went blank. “Why?” was the only word that would come out.
“Got a promotion and the new job’s there.” After waiting for me to say something, Terrell chuckled at my silence. “Well, on that note, I’mma leave you to a sleepless night, ‘cause that’s what next on your agenda. Me? I got drinks and a mariachi band waiting down on the beach.”
“We are not in Mexico, fool,” Maisha said to him under her breath.
Terrell ignored her correction and went on. “So…tell my boy I said ‘WHADDUP’ when you see him.”
I didn’t even say anything after that, just hung up.
AJ was coming here? To live? I sat there staring at nothing in particular, unable to determine why this news had me all up in arms, but then I recalled the chemistry, the fire I felt between us just being in the same room that past weekend. How would it be knowing that we were going to be residing in the same city? Would we speak again? If we did, would we ever acknowledge what we felt, thinking we’d left that experience and the last of those feelings out there on the dance floor in Boston? However, now, fate was basically getting ready to drop all that had resurfaced that night off at my doorstep.
What the hell?
Chapter Eight
AJ
Something was definitely wrong, something more than just knowing that I’d be leaving in the morning. I came back into the bedroom from the closet and hung my ties in the garment bag. Kira’s face was completely void of expression. The last thing I wanted to do was leave D.C. on a bad note. She’d have to own up to whatever was eating away at her.
Her eyes lifted to meet mine when I walked around to the other side of the bed, wrapping my arms around her waist when I got there. She managed to smile a little when my lips touched the side of her neck.
“This distance isn’t gonna be easy for either one of us, which is why keeping the lines of communication open is so important,” I said, lips still pressed against her skin.
She relaxed in my arms and let her fingers trail down my hand while I held her.
“Tell me what’s on your mind,” I beckoned softly.
There were a few seconds of silence before Kira worked her way out of my grasp and sat on the edge of the bed to face me. She kept her eyes trained on the floor.
“I’ve been holding this in because I don’t want it to lead to an argument. That’s the last thing I’d want to happen before you leave.”